Seed-planter.



H. L. FORD. SEED PLNTER. APPLICATIN FILED SEPT- I3, 1.913.

. Patented Dee. 18,1917.

2 SHEETS-SHEET a.

I 7132er? T017 I E. L. FORD.

SEED PLANTES,

APPLICATION FILED SPT.13. :91s.

- Emme@ 136918,1917'( i fr rw www a@ @my 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

RALPH L. FORD, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO INTERNTONAL HVESTER COBPORATIH, A CORPORATION QF NEW' JERSEY.

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Specification of Letters latent.

To all 'whom t may concern.' Be it known that I, RALPH L. Foam a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and StateA of Illinois, have invented certain new and use- ,ful Improvements in Seed-Planters, of which .the following is a full, clear, and exact speci- `fcation. y My invention relates to seed planters.

l It is'my object to improve and simplify @the construction and operation of a devicev of this class. I accomplish this object by means o fan-improved driving mechanism, whereby the speed of the seed shaft may be quickly and easily varied without the necessity ofmanually adjusting the tension of the drlving chain or belt; by the employment lof automatic means coacting with the driving mechamsm and controlled by the raislng and lowermg of the furrow openers to throw' the seed dropping mechanism into and )out of operative position.; and by the furt er employment of improved means 1n' :connection with the frame adjusting lever of vlthe -planter whereby the raising and lowering of the furrowvopene'rs is made easy l of operation.

'One form which my invention may as- `/sume is exemplified in the following de- 3a/t1l soription and illustrated in the accompanylng1 drawings, in whichigure 1 shows a plan view of a corn v-`planter embodying my invention;

` Fig. 2'shows a longitudinal sectional view of a portion ofthe device shown inlfig. 1; Fig. 3 shows a view similar to that shown in Fig. 2, except that the frames' are adjusted to different fpositions;

. Y Fig. I4 shows a etail view of the means employed Kin .my device for tightening the driving chain; and u Fig. 5V hows a. detail view of the corn planter axle withmy improved clutch tripping mechanism applied thereto.

The particular form of planter illustrated herewith lcomprises .carrying wheels 7, an aXle 8 having a carrying frame 9 mounted thereon, la 'furrow opener frame 10 hinged to said main frame, and 'furrow openers or runners 11. A lever 12 is provided yfor the purpose of adjusting the depth of the furrow openers and also for elevating them 'toclearthe ground when' the planter 1s being transported Gll'om place to place. As is usual in planters of this class, the furrow opener frame carries seed boxes 13 and a seed shaft AThe lever 12 is preferably constructed in the form of a double bell crank with a forwardly projecting portion 15 and a reara wardly projecting portion 16. This lever is pivoted near its lower end to the seat standard A17 of the planter and is provided with a sectorV and detent mechanism 18. The forwardly projecting portion of the lever vis connected to a bracket 19 on the furrow opener frame by mea-ns of a sliding rod 20 carrying a pressure spring 2l. The rear portion 16 of the lever extends to a point a slight distance beyond the axle 8, and at its rear, end is provided with a foot receiving vmember 23 so that both hand'and foot power an be applied in the operation of the lever'. A: link memberQlis secured to the rear end of the portion 16 and iscurved to t over the axle when in its downward position. A' contractible coil spring 25 connects the link 9.1i with a transverse bar 26 on the forward end ofthe wheel frame at a point near the pivotal point of the double bell crank lever. A

retest-ea nee?. is, reir. i

0bviously, with the parts justdescribed in position, the spring 25 acts to sustain a portion of the weight of the furrow opener frame and in releasing the lever 12' to permit the furrow openers to drop to lthe ground, the spring will render the fall less forceful, and in raising the furrow openers a considerable portion of theirweight will .be counter-acted by the tension of the spring. Moreover, with the provision of both hand of adjusting-the and .foot levers the. task relative positionsof the two frames is made inconsiderable.

Power is transmitted from the axle ofthe carrying wheels to the seed shaft by means of the usual sprocket wheel and chain connection, comprising a plurality of driving wheels .9.7, each of a different diameter' to accomplish a varying speed, asprocket chain 28, 'and a. driven wheel 29.'

l `have provided for the/purpose of auto'- matically throwing the seed shaft out of furrow openers are raised, and'for vthrow- 4operative relation with the. axle when the lar 33. Adjacent the clutch faced end of:

the sleeve 30 is a clutch member. 34 fixed y Aupon the aXle and'designed to Vcoact with the clutch face on the sleeve. Abutting the clutch member 34 is a loosely mounted sleeve 35 held against rotation by vmeans of a connection 36 with one side of the frame 9. This sleeve, in addition to other functions, serves as 'one of the bearing supports for the carrying frame of the planter. `A fixed collar 37 abutsthe outer end of the sleeve 35 and prevents longitudinal movement thereof. 'Formed on the periphery of the bearing sleeve 35,

a short distance from the inner end thereof,

is a beveled cam faced member 38, and between the cam'me'mber and the adjacent face of the drive wheels 27 is a collar 39 ar-4 ranged to slide loosely upon the clutch member 34 and the rojecting end of the sleeve 35. One end o the collar 39 contacts with the face of the adjacent drivejw'heel and the other is provided with a cam face 40 to coact with the cam member on the sleeve 35. A push rod 41 is swivelly connected with the collar 39 at one end and at its other end is connected' to a bell crank 42 pivoted to the transverse bar- 26 of the wheel frame. Thebell crank is in turn connected to the forwardly projecting portion l5 of the hand lever by means of aylink 43 having an elongated loo or slotted depending end.

It will e seen from the foregoing' that as the hand lever is moved forwardly to lower the furrow openers, the link 43 acts upon the bell crank -42 to force thevpush rod rear-v wardly, and through the swivel connection of said rod with the cam faced collar 39,

said collar is rotated a suflicient distance to,

register the projections and depressions on f the adjacent cam faces. The collar, in mov- 'i position shown in Fig. 5, where the clutch ing to this positioln, permits the driving as rockets, and their sleeve vcarrying the c utcli 31, to be moved longitudinally on the axle by the spring 32 a sufiicientdistanee to cause engagement of the clutch members 31 and`34 and thereby the driving sprockets are'rotatably locked with the axle 8. In raising the furrow openers the collar 39 is rotated in an opposite direction, and by reason of ther beveled'arrangement of the contacting cam surfaces, the collar is moved longitudinally on the axle, forcing with it the driving wheelsfuntil it has reached the members 31 and 34 are disengaged.'

It will be noted that the'projecting portions on each of the cam members 38 and 40 are vso spaced that when registered with tho` depressions in the adjacent cams, there is considerable rotatable movement permitted on the part of the collar 39, without in any way causing longitudinal movement thereof.

By reason of this the furrow openers can be adjusted to different depths within the ground and the clutch members will not be moved relatively. Furthermore, the beveled l portions on the cam faces are Yso restricted that the entire longitudinal movement of the collar takes place during a very brief interval of rotation, and this period should be so timed as to occur after the furrow openers have left the ground and before they reach their maximum position. The rod 41 is adjustable through nuts 44 on the swivel connection, so that the shifting of the clutch Y, members will always take placeat the desired time. By having that portion of the quadrant 18 left blank where the lever passes during the shifting of the clutch, it is thereby rendered impossible for the operator to adjust the lever in a position where the clutch members will be but partially engaged, and thus danger of breakage is largelyv overcome.

An advantage vpeculiar to my clutch des vice is thatit may be used on both drill -and check row planters, as obviously, the

driven Wheel 29 may be connected direct to the seed shaft, as in drill planters, and in Y no Way change the operation of the clutch tripping mec anismj. However, in the present instance,I have shown my device a vplied to a check row planter wherein t e.

driven wheel is connected to the seed shaft through an intermittent and variable clutch 45 of well-known construction. In this case the check forks which are used to trip the` intermittent clutch into.. and out of action may be operatedas the planter is making a, v

turn, .but obviously they will perform no.

function, Y i

As Vis well known, it is desirable in plant ers that a wid variation in the speed of the seed shafts be made possible` in order to adapt the planter to all kinds of planting conditions. This variation is usuall obtained by providing a plurality of drive or driven wheels of varylng diameters,vas is shown in connection with the drive wheels sprocket chain may'then be 'shifted from one of the wheels to the other and thus 4of 'the 'planter illustrated herewith. Thel change the speed at which, the seed shaft is driven. This makes it necessary to pro-.-

vide some form of tightener for the chain,

and I have provided in the present device a tightener that is automatic in operation' and capable of accommodating a maximum amount `of slackin-thechain- This device comprises two rollers'46 and 47 carricdlon f radial arms 48 and 49, which armsml'? mounted on a vstub-shaft 50 fixed abracket 51 on the wheel frame. A' double torsionalspring 52 is carried on the stub shaft, each having'one end anchored to the 5 bracket 51 andthe other connected /to one of the radial arms. The arms are moved to a position where the spring will yield the 'desired force upon them and the sprocket `chain is passed between the` rollers, as shown form of my device, it will be understood,

`20 nevertheless, that it is capable of many modifications and that changes may be resorted to in -the details of the construction Without departing from the -spiritlof my invention as disclosed in the appended 85 claim.

-to secure by Letters Patent, is:

What-I claim as my invention, and desire In a seed planter, carrying wheels,l an axle for said wheels, a carrying frame on said axle, a furrow opener frame hinged to said 80 carrying'frame, a double bell crank lever ivoted to said carrying frame having ja orwardly extending portion yieldingly con-' v nected to the furrow opener frame and a rearwardly extending'portion yieldingly con- 35 nectedV to the carrying frame, seed dropping mechanism carried on said furrow opener frame, driving means on said axle for -operating the seed dropping mechanism, and a Aconnection'between the forwardly extending portion of said bell crank lever and said driving means for connecting and disconnecting the driving means from the axle.

In testimony whereof I alix my signature, .Y in the presence of two witnesses.

RALPH L. FORD.

-Witneesf EVAN EVANS, HERBERT DEWRnv 

